After Venkaiah Naidu was announced as the NDA Vice-Presidential candidate, Smriti Irani was handed over the additional charges of Information and Broadcasting, which was earlier being handled by Naidu.
Smriti Irani has a humble and hospitable way of approaching to people, she worked as the human resources development minister for two years before she was given the charge of textiles. On Tuesday she assumed the office as the new Information and Broadcasting Minister and greeted the information and broadcasting secretary NK Sinha with a smile saying that “I have heard about your work both in culture and HRD”.
She was chosen for this role as I&B deals with censorship, broadcast, auctions, media, areas she is largely familiar with. This may be a temporary post given to her but it should be considered as a promotion as this post has always been handled by senior ministers like Arun Jaitley and Naidu.
Another reason for considering Irani apt for the post is that she has been a party spokesperson for years. She aggressively stands against the opposition and she was the amongst the first one to speak against Rahul Gandhi when he criticised the PM on the Kashmir-PDP alliance. BJP needed an aggressive leader like her and the party restored faith in her by appointing her to such important post.
According to a senior official, Irani’s performance at the low-key textile ministry was key in her getting considered for “promotion”. “She was able to handle the GST rollout and she did well in reaching out to the textile industry where 5% tax was introduced for the first time on cotton fabrics,” the official said.
A party insider said that it would take some time for Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to decide for the right person for the post, but there are possibilities that Smriti Irani might get the post permanently.